Alois P. Swoboda (1873-1938) was a pioneer of American Physical Culture at the turn of the century. His revolutionary course "Conscious Evolution" who supposedly inspired many of America's leaders during that period in government, business, entertainment, law, athletics and medicine.
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Arrival in America
Alois P. Swoboda was born in Vienna on March 8th 1873. In 1881 he emigrated with his father Adolf Swoboda to the United States where they initially lived with a relative.
Early success
At age 28, just 10 years after arriving in America, he had become a millionaire. He and his family lived a comfortable and luxurious life. He had three daughters; Helen Aloisia, Lillian and Emilie. Helen attended finishing school in England and Lillian appeared in silent movies under the stage name of Evona Dione.
Training methods
He developed a mind/body training technique that used the mind to provide the resistance necessary to develop both physical strength and mental strength at the same time. No equipment or apparatus was used. The resistance was developed either by pitting one muscle against the other or by pushing or pulling against imagined resistance. Charles Atlas has been said to be a student of this method but there is no proof of said claim.
Famous students
Bob Hoffman, founder of the York Barbell Company and legendary US Olympic Weightlifting Coach, said his father had one of the best builds that he had ever seen and he got that way using the Swoboda Course. The exercises in the Swoboda Course were the first exercise practiced by Bob Hoffman. Swoboda counted among his students some of most influential and prominent people of his day. None of these claims have yet been substantiated. Supposedly they included US Presidents Theodore Roosevelt,Woodrow Wilson, Several US Supreme Court Justices including Charles Evans Hughes, Ziegfeld Follies Star Anna Held, actress Maxine Elliott , composer Oscar Strauss, the worlds most famous magician and escapologist of that era Harry Houdini, as well as many physicians and well known athletes. There are many claims to who actually participated as a Swoboda student, but thus far none have been substantiated by any measure of fact.
